Leaves muticous, costa ending before the apex.

Capsules mature spring--summer [*]. Soil, trail banks, rock wall, tree trunk, hummocks, mouths of lemming burrows; 40--1800 m; Greenland; Alta., B.C., Nfld., N.W.T., Nun., Que.; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Mont., Nev., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; Europe, Asia.

The bulbiform habit is particularly pronounced in the typical variety. H. Gams (1934) discussed this taxon as a circumpolar, microtheric steppe moss; R. Ochyra and R. I. Lewis-Smith (1996) provided a detailed map of the world distribution. .